~ Even (especially) to your local library

A World Gone Mad

What is happening? I’m not talking about the outcome of the election, which has already happened. I know that one candidate wins; one candidate loses–that’s the way the system is structured. I’m not a very competitive person, and I’ve never cared much about winning or losing at anything, although I am extremely distraught about the outcome and saddened that half of our country’s voting population used this election to exact a sort of revenge on what they perceive as the decline of the United States by electing a woefully inadequate, dangerous, bigoted, misogynistic and volatile candidate just because he’s not Hillary Clinton and just because he claims to be pro-life.

But that’s that. What I don’t understand is a lot of what I’ve been reading since then. Fundamentalist, evangelical Christians delighted that “God has given American another chance!” Another chance to do what? To discriminate against women by taking away their right to choose what happens to their bodies? By repealing legalized same-sex marriage? By deporting people and breaking up families. Is Donald Trump really the poster child for another chance? I know Christians who won’t see PG-13 movies for fear of hearing bad language or seeing sexual images. Who won’t expose their children to certain books for fear of inappropriate relationships or characters. I know Christians who condemn arrogance, opulence and greed. And these same Christians want to hold President Donald Trump up to their kids as a shining example of what they can grow up to be? And who in America gets another chance? Just Christians? Muslims? The LGBT community? Government is not based upon religion. We are not a theocracy. That was never the point.

And then there are the conservatives who are asking for everyone to stop the negativity and focus on the positive. They want to see all of us unite because America is the greatest country in the world! These same people just spent two years chanting, “Make America Great again!” as well as the last eight years spewing hateful, divisive, inflammatory rhetoric about President Obama. Not to mention a Congress that fought our President every step of the way. But now they want us to just give Trump a chance?

President-elect Trump spent weeks touting a rigged election. I haven’t heard a word about a rigged election since he won. President Obama and Secretary Clinton were both gracious in their concession speeches. Trump said proudly, before any votes were cast, that he would contest the election if it was too close. Would Trump have been as gracious in conceding to Clinton?

So when I say the world has gone mad, I’m not talking about the final ballot count. I’m talking about long held conservative values being bent and twisted to support a candidate that would not be considered suitable company for Sunday dinner in most Christian homes. Why? And, yes. I also vote for a platform, not just a person. But Trump has no record to even suggest that he supports the platform he ran on.

I do have an open mind, and I will give Trump a chance to lead because I want our country to succeed, not fail. But I won’t pretend that I think it’s okay that he was voted into office in the first place. It’s not okay.

I’ve always believed in, “Respect the office if not the man”. (And it is still a man.) So out of respect for the office, when Trump is our President, I will say little about the man. Because he has a very long way to go to earn my respect. But I wish him no harm. I don’t believe in grudges or revenge, which do nothing but fill one’s heart with hatred. I guess that’s why in yesterday’s election hate trumped love. Revenge breeds a reckless disregard for common sense.

I know not everyone who voted for Trump is a Christian. I’m sure there are people who voted for Trump with little concern for his personality, demeanor or standards. They voted with their wallets and for a safer world and for someone who promised to get their country back for them. I’m not sure who had it in the first place. And I’m sure many of those voters are nice people, you know, just like some of those Mexicans that Trump knows so much about. But they screwed up. And they screwed up badly.

The world may have gone mad, but I’m not mad. I’m just sad. I’ll get over it and get on with it. But I’ll never forget this election or the hypocrisy. Some will say that voting for Crooked Hillary is hypocritical. But I do not subscribe to a religion that always claims the moral high ground. You can’t choose the exception when you’re someone who claims to always follow the rules.

Thank you! I second everything you said, except I’m not sure that I can stick to just discussing his policies for the next four years. This is a man who is morally and ethically bankrupt. This is a man who declared himself a rascist in my book several years ago when he challenged President Obama’s citizenship with no hint of evidence. He showed his character then, and he reinforced it with everything he has said and done since. Romney I could respect, and even George W. is starting to look good by comparison. But the acceptance of Trump by so-called Christians is unbelievable. If they would just say, hey, I know Trump is a despicable person but I voted for him because of his position on abortion and gun control, then I think it would be easier. But their unwillingness to condemn the countless deplorable things he has said and done, well it makes them deplorable too.

A little follow-up: My daughter sent me a link to Barbara Kingsolver’s recent article in the Guardian, which you may have seen. I had been dithering for weeks on how to respond in Flaming Catheads to the election, and somehow Kingsolver’s essay gave me an impetus and a framework. So, a link to the article and my thoughts, such as they are, are over there.